2011 in Japan

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See also:	Other events of 2011 History of Japan  • Timeline  • Years

This article lists events in 2011 in Japan.

Incumbents

• Emperor – Akihito
• Prime Minister – Naoto Kan (D-Tokyo) until September 2, Yoshihiko Noda (D–Chiba)
• Chief Cabinet Secretary: Yoshito Sengoku until January 14, Yukio Edano until September 2, Osamu Fujimura
• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: Hironobu Takesaki
• President of the House of Representatives: Takahiro Yokomichi (D–Hokkaidō)
• President of the House of Councillors: Takeo Nishioka (D–proportional) until November 5, Kenji Hirata (D–Gifu) from November 14
• Diet sessions: 177th (regular, January 24 to August 31), 178th (extraordinary, September 13 to September 30), 179th (extraordinary, October 20 to December 9)

Events

Other events

• Prefectural and selected municipal elections in major cities:
  • January 30 – 2011 Yamanashi gubernatorial election
  • February 6 – Triple election in Nagoya, Aichi: 2011 Aichi gubernatorial election, 2011 Nagoya mayoral election and Nagoya city council recall referendum.
  • March 13 – 2011 Nagoya city council election
  • April 10 and 24 – 2011 Japanese unified regional elections (12 governors, 41 parliaments, mayors and councils in several hundred municipalities)
  • June 5 – 2011 Aomori gubernatorial election
  • July 3 – 2011 Gunma gubernatorial election
  • July 31 – 2011 Saitama gubernatorial election
  • August 28 – 2011 Sendai city council election (originally scheduled for the unified elections but postponed following the Tōhoku earthquake)
  • September 11 -2011 Iwate gubernatorial election and 2011 Iwate prefectural election (originally scheduled for the unified elections but postponed following the Tōhoku earthquake).
  • November 13 – 2011 Miyagi prefectural election (originally scheduled for the unified elections but postponed following the Tōhoku earthquake): the LDP loses some seats, but remains strongest party with 28 of the 59 assembly seats.
  • November 20 – 2011 Fukushima prefectural election (originally scheduled for the unified elections but postponed following the Tōhoku earthquake): With many voters displaced by earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accidents, turnout reaches a historical low at 47.5 percent; the LDP gains one seat and now holds 27 of the 58 assembly seats.
  • November 27 – 2011 Kōchi gubernatorial election (uncontested): With explicit or implicit support of all established parties including the Communists, governor Masanao Ozaki is reelected without vote for a second term – the first uncontested gubernatorial election since Yoshihiro Katayama's reelection in Tottori in 2003.
  • November 27 – Double election in Osaka: Major issue of both the 2011 Osaka gubernatorial election and the 2011 Osaka city mayoral election were resigned governor and mayoral candidate Tōru Hashimoto's Osaka Metropolis plan to dissolve the cities of Osaka and Sakai and reorganize them like Tokyo's wards as special wards of Osaka prefecture. Incumbent Osaka city mayor Kunio Hiramatsu was opposed to the plan and was supported by both major parties; even the JCP nominated no candidate for Osaka mayor for the first time since 1963 to support his reelection. Despite support from all established parties and all other candidates dropping out of the race, Hiramatsu lost the mayoral election to Hashimoto by a wide margin; and Hashimoto's candidate for governor, Ichirō Matsui comfortably won the gubernatorial race against Kaoru Kurata (both major parties), one Communist and several minor independent candidates (including perennial candidate Mac Akasaka).

Deaths

• January 3 – Nakamura Tomijyuro V, 81, Japanese Kabuki actor
• January 5 – Keijiro Yamashita, Japanese rockabilly singer
• January 11 – Kozo Haraguchi, 100, Japanese track and field athlete, respiratory failure
• January 14 – Toshiyuki Hosokawa, Japanese actor, acute subdural hematoma
• January 14 – Ben Wada, 80, Japanese television director, esophageal cancer
• January 17 – Shinichiro Sakurai, 81, Japanese automotive engineer, heart failure.
• February 5 – Hiroko Nagata, 65, Japanese radical and murderer, vice-chairman of United Red Army.
• February 13 – Nobutoshi Kihara, Japanese electronics engineer for Sony.
• April 17 – Osamu Dezaki, 67, director of anime, lung cancer.
• April 21 – Yoshiko Tanaka, 55, actress, breast cancer.
• April 23 – Norio Ohga, 81, businessman and CEO of Sony
• May 2 – Shigeo Yaegashi, 78, footballer
• May 12 – Miyu Uehara, 24, gravure idol and television personality, suicide
• May 16 – Kiyoshi Kodama, 77, actor
• May 18 – Seiseki Abe, 96, shodo and aikido teacher
• May 21 – Hiroyuki Nagato, 77, actor
• June 6 – Masashi Ohuchi, 67, Olympic weightlifter
• June 9 – Tomoko Kawakami, 41, voice actress
• June 28 – Osamu Kobayashi, 76, voice actor and executive director
• July 5 – Shinji Wada, 61, manga artist
• July 9 – Hideo Tanaka, 78, director
• July 17 – Takaji Mori, 67, footballer
• July 17 – Taiji Sawada, 45, musician
• July 19 – Yoshio Harada, 71, actor
• July 26 – Sakyo Komatsu, 80, science fiction writer
• July 27 – Rei Harakami, 40, musician
• July 27 – Hideki Irabu, 42, baseball player
• August 4 – Naoki Matsuda, 34, football player
• August 5 – Takehiko Maeda, 82, television writer
• August 15 – Tōru Shōriki, 92, baseball team owner (Tokyo Giants) and former CEO of Yomiuri Newspaper
• August 21 – Muga Takewaki, 67, actor
• September 6 – Shigeri Akabane, 70, professional wrestler^{[citation needed]}
• September 7 – Hiroe Yuki, 62, badminton player^{[citation needed]}
• December 31 – Yasutaka Matsudaira, 81, volleyball coach

See also

• 2011 in Japanese football
• 2011 in Japanese music
• 2011 in Japanese television
• List of Japanese films of 2011

References